diff --git a/transact/src/main/java/dev/dbos/transact/database/SystemDatabase.java b/transact/src/main/java/dev/dbos/transact/database/SystemDatabase.java
index 8edf4bbc..04440a3f 100644
--- a/transact/src/main/java/dev/dbos/transact/database/SystemDatabase.java
+++ b/transact/src/main/java/dev/dbos/transact/database/SystemDatabase.java
@@ -815,15 +815,16 @@ private void softEvictPool() {
   /**
    * The database's clock in epoch milliseconds, for inlining into SQL. The workflow_status and
    * queues times that executors compare with each other are stamped and compared on this clock:
-   * created_at, updated_at, completed_at, started_at_epoch_ms, the rate-limit window, and a
-   * workflow's deadline. Executors sharing a system database would otherwise write those rows on as
-   * many clocks as there are hosts, and FIFO order, rate limits, timeouts and retention would all
-   * inherit the skew between them. Where an executor acts on a deadline itself, it measures the
-   * time left from a {@link DatabaseTime} reading with its monotonic clock.
+   * created_at, updated_at, completed_at, started_at_epoch_ms, the rate-limit window, a workflow's
+   * deadline, and the release of a delayed workflow. Executors sharing a system database would
+   * otherwise write those rows on as many clocks as there are hosts, and FIFO order, rate limits,
+   * timeouts, delays and retention would all inherit the skew between them. Where an executor acts
+   * on a deadline itself, it measures the time left from a {@link DatabaseTime} reading with its
+   * monotonic clock.
    *
    * <p>Times that only the writing executor reads stay on the JVM's clock: step timings and the
-   * durable sleep, recv and getEvent timeouts. So, for now, do delays and their promotion to
-   * ENQUEUED, and debounce deadlines.
+   * durable sleep, recv and getEvent timeouts. So, for now, do the end of a relative delay, which
+   * the enqueuing JVM resolves, and debounce deadlines.
    *
    * <p>now() is the transaction's start time on Postgres and CockroachDB alike, so every statement
    * in one transaction reads the same value. It matches the column defaults, which is what keeps a
diff --git a/transact/src/main/java/dev/dbos/transact/database/dao/WorkflowDAO.java b/transact/src/main/java/dev/dbos/transact/database/dao/WorkflowDAO.java
index 378345c2..1c379d3f 100644
--- a/transact/src/main/java/dev/dbos/transact/database/dao/WorkflowDAO.java
+++ b/transact/src/main/java/dev/dbos/transact/database/dao/WorkflowDAO.java
@@ -1198,22 +1198,23 @@ public static void updateWorkflowAttributes(
   public static void transitionDelayedWorkflows(DbContext ctx) throws SQLException {
     var sql =
         """
-          UPDATE "%s".workflow_status
+          UPDATE "%1$s".workflow_status
              SET status = ?,
-                 deduplication_id = CASE WHEN is_debounced THEN NULL ELSE deduplication_id END
+                 deduplication_id = CASE WHEN is_debounced THEN NULL ELSE deduplication_id END,
+                 updated_at = %2$s
            WHERE status = ?
-             AND delay_until_epoch_ms <= ?
+             AND delay_until_epoch_ms <= %2$s
         """
-                .formatted(ctx.schema())
+                .formatted(ctx.schema(), SystemDatabase.NOW_EPOCH_MS)
             + ctx.andAppScope();
 
+    // Released against the database's clock, which every executor shares, rather than this JVM's:
+    // whichever executor runs the release, a delay ends at the same instant.
     try (var conn = ctx.getConnection();
         var stmt = conn.prepareStatement(sql)) {
       stmt.setString(1, WorkflowState.ENQUEUED.name());
       stmt.setString(2, WorkflowState.DELAYED.name());
-      // This JVM's clock, the one delays are counted from, as in Python and TypeScript.
-      stmt.setLong(3, System.currentTimeMillis());
-      ctx.bindAppScope(stmt, 4);
+      ctx.bindAppScope(stmt, 3);
 
       stmt.executeUpdate();
     }
diff --git a/transact/src/test/java/dev/dbos/transact/workflow/DelayReleaseClockTest.java b/transact/src/test/java/dev/dbos/transact/workflow/DelayReleaseClockTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a6b717b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/transact/src/test/java/dev/dbos/transact/workflow/DelayReleaseClockTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,154 @@
+package dev.dbos.transact.workflow;
+
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assumptions.assumeFalse;
+
+import dev.dbos.transact.DBOS;
+import dev.dbos.transact.StartWorkflowOptions;
+import dev.dbos.transact.utils.DBUtils;
+import dev.dbos.transact.utils.PgContainer;
+
+import java.sql.SQLException;
+import java.time.Duration;
+import java.time.Instant;
+import java.util.UUID;
+
+import com.zaxxer.hikari.HikariDataSource;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterEach;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.AutoClose;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
+import org.junit.jupiter.params.ParameterizedTest;
+import org.junit.jupiter.params.provider.ValueSource;
+
+interface DelayClockService {
+  String quick();
+}
+
+class DelayClockServiceImpl implements DelayClockService {
+  @Override
+  @Workflow
+  public String quick() {
+    return "done";
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * A delayed workflow is released against the database's clock, so a JVM whose clock disagrees with
+ * the database's by far more than the delay still releases it on time.
+ *
+ * <p>The skew is the database's: a schema ahead of pg_catalog on the connections' search path
+ * shadows now() and clock_timestamp() with copies shifted by an hour, which every unqualified call
+ * in the SDK's SQL resolves to. Postgres only: CockroachDB does not let a function shadow a
+ * builtin.
+ */
+public class DelayReleaseClockTest {
+
+  private static final String CLOCK_SCHEMA = "dbos_test_skewed_release_clock";
+  // The workflow's queue, which this executor does not dequeue, so a released row stays ENQUEUED
+  // with the release's own updated_at.
+  private static final String QUEUE = "release_clock_queue";
+  private static final String LISTENED_QUEUE = "release_clock_other_queue";
+
+  @AutoClose final PgContainer pgContainer = new PgContainer();
+  @AutoClose HikariDataSource dataSource;
+  @AutoClose DBOS dbos;
+  DelayClockService proxy;
+
+  @BeforeEach
+  void beforeEach() {
+    assumeFalse(PgContainer.USE_COCKROACH_DB, "CockroachDB cannot shadow now()");
+    dataSource = pgContainer.dataSource();
+  }
+
+  @AfterEach
+  void afterEach() throws SQLException {
+    if (dataSource != null) {
+      try (var conn = dataSource.getConnection();
+          var stmt = conn.createStatement()) {
+        stmt.execute("DROP SCHEMA IF EXISTS %s CASCADE".formatted(CLOCK_SCHEMA));
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  /** Shifts the database's clock {@code skewHours} from the JVM's and launches DBOS on it. */
+  private void launchSkewed(int skewHours) throws SQLException {
+    var interval = "interval '%d hours'".formatted(skewHours);
+    try (var conn = dataSource.getConnection();
+        var stmt = conn.createStatement()) {
+      stmt.execute("CREATE SCHEMA IF NOT EXISTS %s".formatted(CLOCK_SCHEMA));
+      stmt.execute(
+          """
+          CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION %s.now() RETURNS timestamptz LANGUAGE sql STABLE
+          AS $$ SELECT pg_catalog.now() + %s $$
+          """
+              .formatted(CLOCK_SCHEMA, interval));
+      stmt.execute(
+          """
+          CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION %s.clock_timestamp() RETURNS timestamptz LANGUAGE sql VOLATILE
+          AS $$ SELECT pg_catalog.clock_timestamp() + %s $$
+          """
+              .formatted(CLOCK_SCHEMA, interval));
+    }
+    var url = pgContainer.jdbcUrl() + "?currentSchema=%s,pg_catalog,public".formatted(CLOCK_SCHEMA);
+    dbos = new DBOS(pgContainer.dbosConfig().withDatabaseUrl(url).withListenQueues(LISTENED_QUEUE));
+    proxy = dbos.registerProxy(DelayClockService.class, new DelayClockServiceImpl());
+    dbos.launch();
+    dbos.registerQueue(QUEUE, new QueueOptions());
+    dbos.registerQueue(LISTENED_QUEUE, new QueueOptions());
+
+    // The harness really did skew the clock the SDK reads.
+    long skewMs = databaseNowMs() - System.currentTimeMillis();
+    assertTrue(
+        Math.abs(skewMs - Duration.ofHours(skewHours).toMillis()) < 60_000,
+        "database clock is %d ms off the JVM's".formatted(skewMs));
+  }
+
+  /** The skewed clock the SDK reads, in epoch milliseconds. */
+  private long databaseNowMs() throws SQLException {
+    try (var conn = dataSource.getConnection();
+        var stmt = conn.createStatement();
+        var rs =
+            stmt.executeQuery(
+                "SELECT (EXTRACT(epoch FROM %s.now()) * 1000.0)::bigint".formatted(CLOCK_SCHEMA))) {
+      rs.next();
+      return rs.getLong(1);
+    }
+  }
+
+  private static void assertBetween(long low, long high, long actual, String what) {
+    assertTrue(
+        low <= actual && actual <= high,
+        "%s %d not in [%d, %d]".formatted(what, actual, low, high));
+  }
+
+  @ParameterizedTest
+  @ValueSource(ints = {1, -1})
+  void aDelayIsReleasedOnTheDatabaseClock(int skewHours) throws Exception {
+    launchSkewed(skewHours);
+    var id = UUID.randomUUID().toString();
+
+    // Delayed far beyond the skew either way, then moved to end a second from the database's now.
+    dbos.startWorkflow(
+        () -> proxy.quick(),
+        new StartWorkflowOptions(id).withQueue(QUEUE).withDelay(Duration.ofDays(1)));
+    assertEquals(WorkflowState.DELAYED.name(), DBUtils.getWorkflowRow(dataSource, id).status());
+    long releaseAt = databaseNowMs() + 1_000;
+    long start = System.nanoTime();
+    dbos.setWorkflowDelay(id, Instant.ofEpochMilli(releaseAt));
+
+    var row = DBUtils.getWorkflowRow(dataSource, id);
+    while (WorkflowState.DELAYED.name().equals(row.status())
+        && System.nanoTime() - start < Duration.ofSeconds(15).toNanos()) {
+      Thread.sleep(50);
+      row = DBUtils.getWorkflowRow(dataSource, id);
+    }
+    long elapsedMs = Duration.ofNanos(System.nanoTime() - start).toMillis();
+    long after = databaseNowMs();
+
+    // Released a second later, not an hour early or late, and stamped on the database's clock.
+    assertEquals(WorkflowState.ENQUEUED.name(), row.status());
+    assertBetween(900, 10_000, elapsedMs, "release took ms");
+    assertBetween(releaseAt, after, row.updatedAt(), "updated_at");
+  }
+}